Disposable absorbent products such as mortuary, veterinary and personal care absorbent products such as diapers, feminine pads, adult incontinence products, and training pants often include one or more layers of fibrous web materials, especially liquid absorbent fibrous web materials, as an absorbent core material, and a backing layer or moisture barrier layer which is impervious to fluid. Personal care absorbent products typically also include a surface for contacting the body of the user, and the absorbent fibrous web material is generally disposed between the body-contacting surface and the moisture barrier layer so that body fluids are absorbed into the product and are contained by the moisture barrier.
Such absorbent fibrous web materials are frequently formed as nonwoven fibrous webs, such as for example, a pulp fluff/super absorbent composite structure which may also contain longer synthetic staple fibers. In order to maintain proper structural integrity when utilized as, or as part of, an absorbent core material, it is necessary to bond or otherwise stabilize the structure of the fibrous web material. Methods are known in the art for providing structural integrity to absorbent fibrous web material such as by thermal pattern or point bonding by the application of heat and pressure, or through-air bonding with heated air. However, heat bonding techniques such as point bonding and through-air bonding generally require the presence of a meltable web component such as thermoplastic bicomponent staple fibers, the presence of which will not always be desirable for all end-use applications. In addition, thermal bonding is relatively inefficient, uses large amounts of energy and the long heating time required uses large amounts of process space. Thus, there remain continuing opportunities for improved methods for making fibrous webs and absorbent fibrous web materials.